38 ACHEH, 



that it was this marriage which gave rise to the Malay " Adat 

 Mengaku," which enacts that the bridegroom should be brought 

 to the house of the bride, and never vice versa. 



Another legend has it, that a Hindu princess having one day 

 disappeared, was found by her brother in Sumatra. On their 

 meeting, he told the natives that she was his Achi, or sister. She 

 was afterwards elected Queen, and hence this name was given to 

 the country. This seems a very plausible story, and it is 

 worthy of notice that the Hindu practice of piercing and 

 largely distending the lobes of the ears, is prevalent up to this 

 day among Achinese women ; this custom is naturally attributed 

 to the above-named princess. 



I have also heard it alleged, that the name Achat, or Acheh, is 

 derived from a species of leech, striped dark and light brown, small 

 but vicious, which abounds in the jungle along the West Coast of 

 Sumatra. 



Although Acheh, as we generally understand it, represents the 

 whole of that portion of North Sumatra from a line drawn across 

 between Tainiang and Trumiin to Acheh or Acheen Head, yet its 

 people only occupy the land bordering the sea as far inland as the 

 high ranges of hills, which skirt the coast at some places along the 

 North, and West, and at times run parallel with it, at a distance 

 varying from five to twenty miles, converging at Acheen Head. 



The land between these ranges consists of high plateaus or 

 steppes, intersected by mountains which stretch continuously 

 throughout the whole length of Sumatra, and are not inaptly termed 

 by the Malays " Grunong Barisan." It it occupied by the two hill 

 tribes G-ayiis and xlllas, the Battaks occupying the highlands fur- 

 ther South. Outwardly these mountains resemble, in every respect, 

 other ranges in the East, being thickly covered with jungle. 

 Though I know of no active volcanoes among them, their forma- 

 tion is distinctly volcanic. Chief among their peaks are the 

 " Golden Mountain " or " Mount Ophir," the " Orphan" or 



